Gather ‘round boys and girls (hockey fans, too). Let’s play a game of musical roster chairs. The music goes ‘round and ‘round. And where she stops (Pittsburgh, Wilkes-Barre, Wheeling) nobody knows…
Earlier this summer, I posted an article showing what I thought the Penguins’ roster would look like come fall. At the time it seemed fairly set in stone. Before POHO/GM Kyle Dubas pulled off a pair of August trades that could have a significant domino effect on roster construction, while placing some of his earlier moves in question.
Indeed, newcomers Rutger McGroarty and Cody Glass look like solid bets to crack the season-opening lineup.
What’s more, the Pens now have a glut of some 20 forwards who can lay at least semi-claim to a roster spot. Since the overstock is most acute up front, that’s where I’ll shine my spotlight.
Without further ado, here’s a position-by-position breakdown.
Center
The top two pivot spots are set with franchise pillars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Behind them, things start to get murky, with summertime acquisitions Glass, Kevin Hayes and holdover Lars Eller front-runners for the two remaining spots. You could add Blake Lizotte, primarily a center with the Kings, to the mix as well.
That’s six deep. And I haven’t even mentioned promising deadline pickup Vasily Ponomarev or Noel Acciari, who centered our fourth line last season.
The general consensus holds that Lizotte will slide to fourth-line left wing and Acciari will bookend him on right wing (more on those moves in a bit). Which unstacks the log jam a tad.
Although centers by trade, Glass and Hayes can also play right wing. Just a wild guess, but I say we’ll give the former first dibs and slide the latter to wing (unless it’s vice versa), with Eller dropping down to center Lizotte and Acciari on the fourth line.
Glass could be a potential candidate there as well.
Left Wing
On the port side, McGroarty’s presence figures to cast things into a tizzy. Although a roster spot isn’t a lock, given the buzz surrounding his arrival it’s hard to picture the high-profile prospect starting the season with the Baby Pens.
Rutger’s mostly likely deployment? Third-line left wing.
Yikes. Hold the phone. Isn’t that where free-agent pickup Anthony Beauvillier is slated to play?
Okay, so bump Beauvillier (or McGroarty) to the top line beside Sid. Uh uh. Drew O’Connor’s penciled in there. With Lizotte sliding to wing, there’s no room on the fourth line for Beauvillier, either.
As for prospects Sam Poulin and Ville Koivunen?
Fuhgedaboudit.
Right Wing
If you thought the situation on left wing merited crowd control, take a gander at the seven-player pile up on the starboard side. Each of the seven, including Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell and the aforementioned Hayes and Acciari, have NHL experience and could compete for a spot. And I’m not counting Matt Nieto, slated to start the season on IR.
The unlucky trio who figure to miss the cut due to the glut? Former fourth overall pick Jesse Puljujärvi, AHL sniper Emil Bemström and last season’s rookie surprise, Valtteri Puustinen.
Of course, injuries happen and you do need some NHL-ready depth, so not to repeat last season’s Jansen Harkins fiasco. To borrow from The Three Amigos, just not the plethora of extras the Pens presently possess.
Perhaps a few will get plucked off the waiver wire, thus thinning the herd by natural process. Or maybe Dubas has a deal or two up his sleeve.
I’ll be especially interested to see what happens with Beauvillier, who at first blush appears to be the odd-man out on left wing.
Eller, too. As much as I like him, the time would seem ripe for a trade. Given his solid, all-around game, I think he’d be attractive to a contender. The Bruins, in particular, still have plenty of cap space according to PuckPedia and appear to need help at center.
Between you, me and the lamp post, I’d gladly send them Boston-native Hayes instead.
Picked clean by free agency, I also wonder if the ‘Canes might have an interest in re-acquiring their former prospects Ponomarev and/or Koivunen, who don’t seem to hold as prominent a place in the Pens’ scheme as before.
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Hey all,
Scratch my last paragraph concerning Ponomarev and Koivunen. Sometimes random thoughts are best not expressed. This was one of those times.
I think both Ponomarev and Koivunen do, indeed, figure into the Pens' future plans. Perhaps just not the immediate future.
I'm especially encouraged by a report regarding Ponomarev that says he's tenacious with the puck, especially around the net. Can't stress enough how important a high compete level is, and it sounds like this kid has it.
Rick
I think this team has a shot to make it into the playoffs and possibly win a round. I hated to give up Yager but McGroarty seems to be a quality player. I would keep Ellers who had a good year and unload Kevin Hayes. I would give some of the younger players a shot and unload players who haven’t contributed much. And Jarry needs to go. Surely one team is needing a goaltender and is willing to give Jarry a shot. Perhaps we can squeeze a first round pick out of Jarry.
Hey Steve,
I wish I shared your enthusiasm. I think a lot of things have to go wrong with teams like the Caps, Devils, Islanders, Flyers, Sabres and Sens (most of whom improved) combined with everything going right for our Pens in order for us to make it. I just don't see that happening.
I do think McGroarty changes our dynamic for the better and I'm very happy we got him.
Regarding Jarry, I'd like to get out from underneath his contract as well. I don't think it's going to get done this summer. I think it's more a possibility at the deadline, although I don't think we'll reap a windfall in return.
Honestly, just getting his contact off the books would be a plus.
Rick
Hey Steve,
I would think that I would start with Edm and Van to shop Jarry. I doubt we would get a 1st round pick for him, but I could be talk way down just to shed the team of that petulant child-man and his salary/Cap Hit. I would really try and shop him to Utah and find a way to package it to nab Lamoureux.
Hey Rick,
What as it that Sonny and Cher sang "and the beat goes on". This roster is shaping up like last season's failure of a roster. There is a saying that goes "Only an idiot learns from his own mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others." So what does that make our Penguins, they do not learn even from their own mistakes.
As I wrote yesterday when I brought up this very depressing point of a roster overloaded with with other team's cast offs, this rinse and repeat cycle of failure is just perpetuating itself for one more season; worse thing about it is this continued insistence of packing the organization with oxygen thieves from other teams keeps pushing back a return to relevance into a more distant future.
Again, going over the same old ground ad nauseam, the probability of a scatter-gun approach to find a that all important gem, using old, cast-offs from other teams is a whole lot lower than sorting through true prospects. The parade of fossil has been s and never was s now approaching the end of their prime is mitigated against them by an already building track record of decayed of talent and/or outright failure.
What is worse is this coming years roster could actually be older than last season, despite Carter coming off the books.
There is still time. The team could still do something right for a change. However, they are not tipping their hand. All appearances are status quo. The team is buried in this quagmire through their own fault, as they keep failing to bring in kids in a timely fashion, letting their prospects rot on the vine.
As for DOC, even though I generally go to bat for giving kids TOI, 1) DOC is no longer a kid - he has a track record of mediocrity. Fortunately, his stock is still at it's peak. It is time to move on from him; trade him for a real prospect to a team that thinks it is a real contender looking for depth.
Rick
Although it looks very crowded at this point things have a way of working out. I do like what Dubas
is doing with the roster - he's adding tons of depth, and giving the team options. In a perfect world
it would be nice to see O'Connor, and McGroarty running with the 1st and 2nd lines. This would allow
us to move Rakell to the 3rd line. A move in my opinion that makes for a stronger lineup.
Rick, it would be great if you could write something addressing our PP and what changes you would
like to see happen. One, for me would be to move Malkin to the 2nd unit and its time to get some
fresh young players a shot. I look forward to your feedback.
Hey Mike,
So sorry for the sluggish response.
I don't consider myself a power play (or x's and o's) guru by any stretch. However, I think one of the main issues with the power play early on was a lack of movement and net-front presence...maybe due at least in part to age. We just kind of passed the puck around the perimeter until we lost possession and/or Erik Karlsson blasted it into a penalty killer's shin pads.
No movement=no shooting lanes.
Too, there just never seemed to be a coherent plan. I think everyone kind of expected Karlsson to be a magical fix, and when he wasn't there was no back-up plan.
Malkin and Karlsson had no chemistry whatsoever, especially when both were high in the zone. A disaster (and short-handed goal) waiting to happen.
I think the power play improved somewhat when Sullivan/Reirden finally began to inject some energy and puck retrieval. It actually went on a mini-tear when Puustinen first joined the unit. Not because he was tearing it up so much as his movement created opportunities.
Although the numbers weren't necessarily better, I liked the look of things after Michael Bunting joined the unit. Geno actually did well when they moved him down low. He had at least a couple of deflection goals at the post. I keep him as far away from the point as possible.
If we can get more puck movement, puck retrieval and net-front presence, we should improve at least somewhat. Maybe I'm pushing my expectations a bit, but I think McGroarty could help if he's ready for the NHL.
Rick